On this page: Oenias – Oenoatis – Oenoe – Oenomar – Oenomaus

OENOMAUS.

Pleuron and Calydon in Aetolia '(Horn. /?. v. 813, ix. 543, xiv. 115, &c.). According to the tragic poets he was a son of Porthaon and Euryte, and besides the two brothers mentioned above, Alca- thous, Laocoon, Leucopeus, and Sterope, are like­ wise called his brothers and sister (Apollod. i. 7. § 10 ; Apollon. Rhod. i. 192 ; Hygin. Fab. 14). His children are said to have been Toxeus, whom he him­ self killed, Thyreus (Phereus), Clymenus, Periphas, Agekus, Meleager, Gorge, Eurymede, Melanippe, Mothone, and Deianeira (Apollod. i. 8. § 1 ; Paus. iv. 35. § 1 ; Anton. Lib. 2). His second wife was Melanippe, the daughter of Hipponous, and by her he is said by some to have become the father of Tydeus, who according to others was his son by his own daughter Gorge (Apollod. i. 8. § 4, &c.; Diod. iv. 35 ; comp. tydeus). He is said to have been deprived of his kingdom by the sons of Agnus, who imprisoned him and ill used him. But he was subsequently avenged by Diomedes, who slew Agrius and his sons, and restored the kingdom either to Oeneus himself, or to his son-in-law An- draemon, as Oeneus was too old. Diomedes took his grandfather with him to Peloponnesus, but some of the sons who lay in ambush, slew the old man, near the altar of Telephus in Arcadia. Diomedes buried his body at Argos, and named the town of Oenoe after him (Apollod. i. 8. § 5, &c.; Anton. Lib. 37 ; Diod. iv. 65). According to others Oeneus lived to a very old age with Diomedes at Argos, and died a natural death (Paus. ii. 25. § 2). Homer knows nothing of all this ; he merely relates that Oeneus once neglected to sacrifice to Artemis, in consequence of which she sent a monstrous boar into the territory of Calydon, which was hunted by Meleager (77. ix. 532, &c.). The hero Bellerophon was hospitably received by him, and received a costly girdle as a present from him (vi. 216, &c.). At the time of the Trojan war the race of Oeneus had become extinct, and hence Thoas, the son of Andraemon, the son-in-law of Oeneus, led the Aetolians against Troy (ii. 638, &c.). [L. S.1

OENIAS, a Greek painter, of whom nothing more is known than that he painted a family group, syngenicon. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 11. s. 40. § 37.) [P. S.I

OENOE (OiV<fy). 1. The name given by An­toninus Liberalis (16) to a person commonly called Gerana. [gerana],

2. A sister of Epochus, from which the Attic demus of Oenoe was believed to have derived its name. (Paus. i. 33, in fin.)

3. An Arcadian nymph, who is said to have teen one of those that brought up the infant Zeus. (Paus. viii. 47. § 2.) [L. S.]

OENOMAR-CHUS (OiVo>apx<>s), of Andros, one of the numerous pupils of HerodesAtticus, did not possess any great celebrity, and was fond of the florid style of eloquence, which received the name of the Ionic or Asiatic. (Philostr. Vit. Soph. ii. 18.)

OENOMAUS (OiVoVaos), a son of Ares and Harpinna, the daughter of Asopus, and husband of the Pleiad Sterope, by whom he became the father of Hippodameia, was king of Pisa in Elis (Apollod. iii. 10. § 1 ; Paus. v. 10. § 2, 22. § 5,vi. 21. § 6). According to others he was a son of Ares and

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OENOMAUS.

Sterope (Schol, ad Horn. II. xviii. 486 • Hygin. Fab. 84, 159), or a son of Alxion (Paus. v. 1. § 5), or of Hyperochus and Sterope (Tzetz. ad Lye. 149). An oracle had declared that he should die if his daughter should marry, and he therefore made it a condition that those who came forward as suitors for Hippodameia's hand should contend with himself in the chariot-race, and he who conquered should receive her, whereas those that were conquered should suffer death. The race-course extended from Pisa to the altar of Poseidon, on the Corinthian isthmus. At the moment when a suitor started with Hippodameia, Oenomaus sacrificed a ram to Zeus at Pisa, and then armed himself and hastened with his swift chariot and four horses, guided by Myrtilus, after the suitor. He thus overtook many a lover, whom he put to death, until Pelops, the son of Tantalus, came to Pisa. Pelops bribed Myrtilus, and using the horses which he had received fromPoseidon, he succeeded in reaching the goal before Oenomaus, who in despair made away with himself. Thus Pelops obtained Hippodameia and the kingdom of Pisa (Diod. iv. 73 ; Hygin. Fab. 84 ; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 752, ad Find. Ol. i. 114 ; Ov. Ib. 365, &c.). There are some variations in this story, as e. g. that Oenomaus was himself in love with his daughter, and for this reason slew her lovers (Tzetz. ad Lye. 156; Hygin. Fab. 253). Myr­ tilus also is said to have loved her, and as she wished to possess Pelops, she persuaded Myrtilus to take the nails out of the wheels of her father's chariot ; and as Oenomaus was breathing his last he pronounced a curse upon Myrtilus, and this curse had its desired effect, for as Pelops refused to give to Myrtilus the reward he had promised, or as Myrtilus had attempted to dishonour Hippo­ dameia, Pelops thrust him down from Cape Ge- raestus. But Myrtilus, while dying, likewise pro­ nounced a curse upon the house of Pelops, which was afterwards the cause of the fatal occurrences in the life of Atreus and Thyestes (Tzetz. ad Lye. 156). All the suitors that had been killed by Oenomaus, were buried in one common tomb (Pans, vi. 21. § 6, &c.). The tomb of Oenomaus himself was shown on the river Cladeus in Elis (vi. 21. § 3). His house was destroyed by lightning, and only one pillar of it remained standing (v. 20. § 3, 14. § 5 ; comp. v. 17. § 4, 10. § 2 ; Soph. Elect. 504, &c.; Volcker, Mytliol. des Japet. Geschl. p. 361). [L. S.]

OENOMAUS (OtVoVaos), of Gadara, a cynic philosopher, who flourished in the reign of Hadrian, or somewhat later, but before Porphyry. (Syncell. p. 349, b.; Suid. s. v.) He was one of those later cynics whose philosophy consisted not so much in any definite system of doctrine, as in a free and unrestrained tone of thought and life. Thus the emperor Julian charges him with sensuality and profaneness ; and his sarcasms upon the old cynic doctrines have led some to suppose, but without reason, that he belonged to some other sect. (Ju­lian, Qrat. vi. p. 199, vii. p. 209, ed. Spanheim.) Suidas mentions, as his works, Hepl Kw/tor^uoi/, XIoAiTeta, Tlepl rrjs Ka0* "OfAypov 4>iAo<ro</Has, Tlepl KpdTyTos Kal Aioyevovs /ml to>v \onrwv. This list, however, does not include the work which is best known to us, namely, his exposure of the oracles, which is sometimes entitled Kara T(av xPWJ"np'u»>v, but the proper title seems to have been To^rcav 4>wpo, i. e. Detectio Praestiyiajtorum, Considerable extracts from this work are preserved